An imaging interferometry capability for the EISCAT Svalbard
Radar.

Permanent lenke

Åpne

Dato

2005-01-31

Type

Journal articlePeer reviewedTidsskriftartikkel

Forfatter

Chau, J.L.; Grydeland, Tom; La Hoz, C.; Brekke, Asgeir

Sammendrag

Interferometric imaging (aperture synthesis imaging)
is a technique used by radio astronomers to achieve
angular resolution that far surpasses what is possible with a
single large aperture. A similar technique has been used for
radar imaging studies of equatorial ionospheric phenomena
at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory. We present plans for
adding an interferometric imaging capability to the EISCAT
Svalbard Radar (ESR), a capability which will contribute significantly
to several areas of active research, including naturally
and artificially enhanced ion-acoustic echoes and their
detailed relation in space and time to optical phenomena,
polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE), and meteor studies.
Interferometry using the two antennas of the ESR has
demonstrated the existence of extremely narrow, fieldaligned
scattering structures, but having only a single baseline
is a severe limitation for such studies. Building additional
IS-class antennas at the ESR is not a trivial task. However,
the very high scattering levels in enhanced ion-acoustic
echoes and PMSE means that a passive receiver antenna of
more modest gain should still be capable of detecting these
echoes.
In this paper we present simulations of what an imaging
interferometer will be capable of observing for different
antenna configurations and brightness distributions, under
ideal conditions, using two different image inversion algorithms.
We also discuss different antenna and receiver technologies.